Catching Z's
by CountingApples
Summary: One-shot. It's been a long day in Zootopia and Judy has dragged Nick back to hers to finish the paperwork thanks to Bogo letting them leave due to how late it is.


**Recently gained a huge love for Zootopia and especially Judy and Nick's relationship, be it romantic or not. Enjoy~!**

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Judy smiled as the faces of her parents appeared on her phone screen. She still had yet to change out her uniform except for her vest; mainly due to the fact a certain fox was currently laying on her bed looking at his phone. And with her apartment being just a room she had no chance of privacy. Besides. The pair had been allowed to leave and do the paperwork outside of office hours due to coming off duty so late. The sun had completely set outside.

"Hey there sweetheart! Your call is a little late tonight, is everything okay?" She could see the look of concern plastered on her parents' faces.

"They aren't working you too hard are they? I know you're out protecting the city Jude but you can't do that if your eyes are drooping!" Her father cut in before Judy could reply to her mother.

"I'm fine guys honestly we hit bit of traffic on way back to work. Bogo let us come home with the paperwork so will get that done then will be kicking the fox occupying my bed, out and heading to sleep," She moved her head to the side for Nick to be seen on camera, "say hi Nick."

He looked up from his phone and gave her a sarcastic smiled before looking to the screen and smiled genuinely at the bunnies on the phone, giving them a nod, "Hey Mr and Mrs Hopps."

The pair of them smiled and waved at Nick. While they had only met Nick once they had taken to him more or less straight away, much to Judy's surprise. She turned the screen back to herself before continuing to speak to them. "Can I give you guy's a call tomorrow? The sooner we get this paperwork done the better. I promise it won't be as late this time."

"Okay Jude you get all that done and get some rest! Find out when you can take leave and come visit us soon okay?" Her dad smiled again at her before they bid their farewells and hung up. Judy let out a long sigh.

"I could have left calling them but if I had they would have thought I'd become road kill or something."

"Don't worry too much, they know you're alive and safe. Now, sooner we get this paperwork done the sooner we both can be alive, safe, and asleep. Not only that, but as much as I enjoy occupying your bed against my will I would like to try and catch the nightly showing of the back of my eyelids for a few hours." He grinned at her, remembering the fox comment Judy had made only moments ago. He let a yawn escape before speaking again, "I'll tell you all the details I remember and you fill in the blanks?"

Judy nodded as she pulled out the sheets of paper that had been protected in a sleek cream document holder. Some reports they had to fill out individually while others could be done as a partnered thing. Typically they were meant to take turns but Nick had still yet to develop the attention span for office work.

"Right, report on the case of a weasel shopping lifting and trying to make a run for it from Furgreens…" she read out loud while filling in some of the paperwork, "If can get this all written out I know Clawhauser will get it up on the computer system for us."

Nick made a noise of agreement while he continued to look at his phone. The room was fairly quiet besides the occasional replies of Nick while Judy read the report out loud as she went along. Bucky and Pronk had argued the night before about having to attend some family affair which meant silence from Thursday night till at least Sunday morning. With Thursday night being tonight it was already the start of bliss.

They continued until Judy started to notice Nick's replies had become shorter, quieter, and less frequent. Prompting her to turn round to tell him off for being on his phone. Only to find him, out for the count on her bed. He had removed his tie and badge when he came in, something he did as habitual as switching on the lights. His head was resting on her pillow with his arms crossed at his chest, eyes closed. Due to Nicks nature, any mammal would have think he was faking it to get out of doing work but Judy knew it wasn't a ruse by the sounds of his breathing, light and shallow.

She carefully got off her seat and went over to the bed and crouched down to the edge to the same level, still a strange feeling considering Nick was taller than her when standing. Taking a deep sigh she felt conflicted about waking him up and telling him off. Her attention was ripped away, however, when she saw Nicks ear twitch in his sleep at the feeling of her breath tickling him.

'Don't do it Judy' She tried telling herself as she reached over and stroked it gently. His ear was silky soft and still warm. Despite her apartment being a shoebox, she did have to admit it held heat really well in the cold and kept really cool in the heat.

Nick let out a deep breath causing her to pull away quickly. Judy readied herself to wake him until she glanced at her clock and realised it was coming close to one in the morning. It was hardly fair to expect him to drive home so late when he was so tired. So with a deep breath she climbed up to the bed and carefully lay next to him. Her body mimicked his, laying on her side with her arms crossed while looking at him, her face not to far him his. It actually gave her a rare chance to look at him while asleep.

It was surprising to see his features so relaxed and peaceful. She was so used to his usual smirk, that for some reason in her mind she thought he maintained it even in his sleep. He still was good looking yet had an air of innocence about him in this state. Maybe it was because, in his sleep his confident, sarcastic persona was down. She could almost picture what he looked like when he was younger. And if he looked anything like she could imagine, he was adorable. Something he'd be horrified if she said to him out loud.

A tired smile danced across her face as her eyes slowly started to give way, her companion slowly turning into an orange blur as sleep started to take over.

It felt like she had only closed her eyes for a few minutes before waking up to a warm glow of sunshine coming through her window. She rolled onto her back and stretched before rolling back on her side to look at Nick. He didn't seem to have shifted positions in his sleep but his breathing was still a soft. Again she found herself mimicking his position while looking at him.

"Enjoy staring while it lasts Carrots. This is your only chance to see me sleeping," Judy nearly fell off the bed in surprise at the sleepy voice that came from her bed buddy, his eyes remaining closed, "I'd say take a picture, it'll last longer. But I know you'd actually do that."

She couldn't stop herself from smiling at his words. Even in a sleepy haze at an early hour he could be sarcastic. She let herself relax back where she was. Her alarm for the week's shifts had yet to start. Meaning there was no need to move just yet.

"How long you been awake?" She spoke softly, moving her paw up to rub her eyes. Nick's position remained unchanged.

"About twenty minutes give or take. Didn't realise where I was at first. Sorry for taking your bed by the way."

Judy shook her head slightly, "Don't worry about it. Yesterday was a long one. Though, if you are sorry, you can buy this mornings coffee.

"Deal." She saw a smile form on his lips, "Just lets lay for ten more minutes. While your bed isn't the most comfortable, I've got to muster the effort to move." She chuckled before making an agreeing sound.

The pair laid in a comfortable silence. Neither needing to say anything as they laid there, both fully aware the other was awake. For Judy it felt like a huge step of trust in their relationship. While Nick had become her closest friend and confidant, she knew he had years of building walls around himself to bring down. Every day she became more and more proud of him than she ever thought she could be.


End file.
